BioBase4SME proudly announces the successful pitches of Flemish SMEs Avecom and Millibeter at the EFIBPitchFest 2016!
BioBase4SME offers Bio-Innovation Support for Entrepreneurs throughout North-West Europe. One of the main pillars of this support is coaching, mentoring and training of young and ambitious start-ups and SMEs with the aim to bring their bio-innovations closer to the market.
Identifying the right partners and/or investors is a crucial step whilst bringing (bio)-innovation to the market. Young companies often do not have any experience when it comes to presenting or pitching their business case to potential partners and/or investors. Therefore, Scottish Entreprise introduced the EFIB PitchFest 2016 during the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy which was held in Glasgow end of October 2016. Twelve European SMEs or start-ups with investor-ready innovations would get the opportunity to pitch for a judging panel of investors, after having followed a program of coaching, business mentoring and pitch training provided by their regional agency. BioBase4SME fully supporting this valuable initiative, was pleased to set-up and coordinate the coaching and selection program for Flanders and herewith proudly announces the successful pitches of Flemish SMEs Avecom and Millibeter at the EFIBPitchFest 2016!
Avecom developed a unique and sustainable technology to convert process streams from the food industry into high-value and affordable proteins for the food and feed industry. Bart Kregermans (Avecom) states: “The coaching and selection program offered by BioBase4SME, Scottish Enterprise, FINMIX and Knowledge Transfer Network UK was a most valuable experience. We were able to participate in several ‘free of charge’ pitch trainings and business mentoring sessions, first at regional then at international level. The feedback received and the experience gained during these sessions will be a huge help in the further process of taking our innovative technology to the market.”
Millibeter uses black soldier flies to convert waste and manure into resources for the chemical and feed industry. This innovative process can lower our dependence on soy, palm oil and fish meal. The larvae of the flies also produce chitin, an ingredient used for a broad range of fine-chemical applications, from water sanitation over cosmetics to feed additives. Johan Jacobs (Millibeter) testifies: “As a young and ambitious enterprise we were very happy to be able to seize this unique opportunity to present our technology and business case to an international panel of investors. As our technology obviously has a worldwide implementation potential, our overall EFIB participation was a unique opportunity for us to look for new international partners and collaborations. On top of that we won second prize in the PitchFest competition!”
Additional information: Which type of mentoring, coaching and support did the applicants receive?
Applicants received pitch training and investment, pitch and business mentoring through a dedicated FINMIX biotech panel which was kindly organized by FINMIX, an instrument of Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship to assist companies looking for investors and funding. The two companies selected for the PitchFest received in addition portfolio of support including eg. further free business mentoring and pitch training offered by Knowledge Transfer Network UK, a free two-day pass to attend EFIB 2016, a platform and exposure to around 700 business leaders and investors from around the world and co-funding of travel costs kindly offered by Flanders Investment and Trade Agency (FIT Agency).